Rockpool Stitchscape

 

I started this piece a little while ago, all in a tither because I'd found a really interesting type of frame that I'd not come across before and intended this to fit in there. As it happens, it hasn't ended up in that frame, but in a different type of one from the same maker, Barton Studios, which I actually thinks works even better for this piece. 

The frame is completely round, like a porthole, and the embroidery hoop fits into the back of it so everything stays nice and taut in the hoop and just beautifully presented. Because my piece ended up being so three-dimensional, it almost looks best laid flat on a surface so that everything pokes upward like it would in a real rockpool!

I've had lots of fun with this piece. There's a lot going on, like a jungle of texture almost! An underwater one at least.

In the above image I've layered bugle and seed beads in different sizes on top of each other to make bead sticks which wibble and wobble when the hoop moves. There's also drizzle stitch, which I need to make a tutorial for as it's often requested in workshops, it's a wonderful twirly stitch, almost like a helter-skelter. 

From this angle you can see satin stitch rocks, french knots, hints of the glitter tape I've cut out and stitched down, and moss stitch using two different colours in the needle at once to help build up a multi-shade patch of mossy seaweed. Basically it's a seed stitch but you don't pull the thread all of the way through and leave a little loop on the top. You do need to make sure that this stitch is properly secured though, and almost always run the risk of it catching and pulling the whole lot out. If it's being used somewhere that is likely to be pulled on, it might be worth ironing some fusible interfacing to the back to help secure the stitches there.

Bigger and bolder sea anemone type creatures have been made by twisting together two different colours of furnishing tassel trimming and stitching them upright to create little puffs. I've given these a haircut to tone them down and it was mad trying to stitch everything around them - they went in fairly early because they were a major structural part. (I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, definitely try and put them in later if you can!).

There are five fabrics used in this piece and, unusually for me, it is a top-down viewpoint, with no calico showing! The watery batik fabric which flows through the centre of the hoop has got swirling rows of whipped back stitch in two shades, and then a single strand of metallic thread back stitched along each previous line of stitching. All of the fabrics on either side of it are intended to be different types of rock with slightly different personalities. 

At the point where I have my fabulous fringing, I've stitched down some clear beads to hint at bubbles. Although it's a rock pool, there is a bit of water flowing, hinted at by the linear rows of stitching, so there should be bubbles and breaks in the flow as the water squeezes through a narrower opening. It adds a really nice additional texture here I think, and a sparkle for the water. 

Two of the fabrics have been basically treated the same, just in different colours. The striped greenish/grey batik on the left has been outlined in a single strand of backs stitch using a silvery thread, with french knots covering up the edge. Similarly the brown batik fabric on the right has had single strand back stitches in a matching brown, but with overlapping bullion knots on it's edge. They both have a piece of the glittery tape stitched over, with moss stitch and more french knots to help soften the edges of the tape. 

The other two fabrics both have bead stick sets on them, with the dark green batik at the bottom edged just with overlapping straight stitches, and covered in drizzle stitch on the darker splodges which has created nice gaps in those stitches. 

You can see how the back has been tidied up here. I suppose the only downside to this frame is that you would likely have to back the hoop with something but that's not an issue - and if you never take it off the wall it will never be an issue anyway!

There are two little pegs between the embroidery hoop and the frame, which you move in and out with an allen key (handily provided with the frame) so that it is secured tightly. I really like these frames!

So, the stitch run down for this piece is; bullion knots, french knots, beading, back stitch, satin stitch, whipped back stitch, straight stitch, drizzle stitch, couching and moss stitch. 

It was so much fun to make - I may yet make some more!